The Start of something
by markergirlmegs
Summary: When Steve and Natasha end up going on a date. But who's to say that someone else doesn't have feelings for Ms. Romanoff?
1. Chapter 1

Natasha was nervous. She hasn't felt this nervous for something in her whole entire life. It was like the whole first date type jitters that normal people would get, but she wasn't normal. She doesn't feel like this, ever. She wasn't even sure if feeling like this was normal.

She exhaled softly and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a blue button up blouse that had ruffles up near her neck, which clung to her curves just right that left a little imagination to the eye of the beholder. She shimmed on a pair of tan slacks that fit her just right in the right places. Natasha fluffed her hair as she looked in the mirror. She looked stunning, without even trying, but she didn't feel that way. She let another soft exhale slip past her lips as she put on a pair of black velvet flats and left her room.

She headed down a narrow hallway that leads to a couple rooms, to the room where she was heading. It contained her date, for the date she was about to go on. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt as she approached his door. She contemplated on turning around and heading back to her room, but she didn't. She raised her hand from the hem of her shirt and lifted it to his door to knock on it, smiling softly. After she finished knocking she heard commotion and things being knocked over inside.

"C-Coming! Give me a second!" He said, his voice with a nervous tinge to it.

Natasha just shook her head and laughed somewhat nervously, that's Steve for you. He was always clumsy and nervous around women.

She heard him exhaled loudly near the door after he was done fixing whatever he had knocked over in his room. He turned the door knob and opened it, with a charming smile spread across his lips. He discreetly checked her out and his cheeks flushed a light pink.

"You look beautiful, Tasha." He smiled and motioned for her to come into his room.

Natasha smiled softly and her cheeks flushed as she walked into his room. She looked around his room and noticed how plain and neat it was, regarding the part of the room that seemed a little messy with two bean bag chairs and bags of food scattered in the room that had the TV.

"Thanks, Steven," She smiled and pointed to the bean bags and bags of food in the other room, "What's that for? Our date?"

"Yes, it's for our date and you should smile more it looks good on you." He smiled wide, almost looking it hurt to smile because he had been smiling so much.

"We aren't going out? I thought you said we were..." Natasha said, somewhat disappointed that they were going to be staying in, but she didn't seem to care that much.

"I changed my mind, and it seemed like a better thing to do," He kept the smile on his face and grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together as he pulled her over to the bean bags. He helped her down onto the bean bag, being a gentleman and smiled while going to sit down in his bean bag. He grabbed one of the bags of food while glances over at Natasha out of the corner of his eyes. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine, you can eat." Natasha shook her head and leaned back into her bean bag after she scooted it towards his bean bag and curled up into her bean bag.

"Suit yourself," Steve smiled while he started to stuff his mouth like a chipmunk while he ate. "What movie do you want to watch?" He spoke the best he could with his mouth full then swallowed.

"What movies are there for me to pick from?" She said, with a curious tone.

"Well I have Titanic, Up and something else. But I think we could watch those if you want." He said, stuffing more food into his mouth.

Natasha wrinkled her nose at the mention of Titanic and Up, but she had to pick one of them, "What about Up? That sounds like a good movie."

"Good choice, I already had that movie in." He charmingly grinned at Natasha and pressed the play button on the DVD remote. He had Tony teach him how to work the TV and DVD player just for this very occasion with Natasha.

"Thanks." She smiled and then started to focus on the movie, and trying to drown out the crunching of Steve eating his food. She shivered slightly from being cold in her outfit that barely gave her any warmth.

Steve blinked, realizing she was shivering and reached over behind the bean bag and grabbed a red, white and blue fuzzy blanket. He smiled at her and pulled her bean bag over to him and wrapped the blanket up around her then draped and arm around her shoulder. He set his food down with his free hand then wrapped it around her, quietly watching the movie while holder Natasha in his arms.

Natasha looked up at him; glad that he felt comfortable holding her and more importantly that she was comfortable with this herself. She smiled up at him and impulsively leaned up to kiss his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder.

Steve turned bright red at her placing a kiss on her cheek and tightened his arms around Natasha, leaning his head on top of hers as she closed her eyes and while he watched the movie in silence. However this silence was happy. As time passed Steve closed his eyes as well and started to drift off to sleep while holding Natasha close to his chest.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a couple days since Natasha had talked to Steve since he was sent on a mission with Tony. What a lovely pair, I'm sure they would be fighting with each-other on the way to wherever they were going. Natasha was just a little hurt that Fury didn't assign Steve and her to go on the mission together; did he not want them to get compromised? Or did he not even know they had feelings for each other?

A knot formed in Natasha's stomach while she thought about this, and about Steve. She didn't want to admit it, but she was missing him terribly. And more and more with each passing day that he was gone on his mission. She had been sending him transmissions on his communicator, but he hadn't replied back and neither had Tony.

After a couple hours of peaceful sleeping, she started to toss and turn in her sleep. She was having a nightmare. It was vivid. Natasha almost thought it was real. Her nightmare consisted of her laying on the ground in an abandoned warehouse, covered in blood. Her shoulder oozed blood, having the blood drip down her arm. She was screaming in pain but it seem like no one could hear her. Her consciousness waned as her attacker approached her, with a smirk on his face. He was carrying a gas can in his hands and started to dump in around where Natasha was laying, and then pulled out a match.

"This is exactly how your parents died, isn't it?" The man smirked at her and dropped the match on the fire, and then everything had gone black.

Natasha jolted awake with a small scream, then pulled her knees to her chest. The nightmare had ended, but started days of restless sleeping.

Natasha sat for hours in her room just staring at the same four plain walls, hugging her knees. The stillness and silence was killing her, even though her body screamed for sleep, she wouldn't allow herself to go back to sleep. She pulled herself from her bed and slipped out of her pajamas, quickly changing into a pair of sweatpants and a black tank-top. She needed a distraction and the gym was going to have to be it. She grabbed her gym back and slipped it on her shoulder, the left her room and walked down the hall to the gym.

Natasha tried holding herself together as she walked down the hall of the headquarters. She must not show weakness, it was out of character for her. She quietly choked down a sob and rushed down the hall. She quickened her rushing into a sprint and skidded to a stop once she was inside the gym. It was spacious, clean and almost no one was inside. Except for one person.

Clint Barton.

He was one of the only people who could see past her hard exterior, her emotionless façade. Soon, however Steve would be able too, but she wasn't going to get into that.

She quietly started to wrap her hands up in tape, her arms shaking as she tried to contain all the feelings she had. However, Clint was in his own little world of only paying attention to the bulls' eye and his basic bow. Natasha finished up tapping her hands up, setting the roll of tape down quietly back into her bag. She glanced around before settling her eyes on a punching bag and decided it would have to do. She would have rather gone a couple rounds with Clint or one of the agents but that would only leave them hurt and not her.

She walked over to the punching bag and set her stance, aggressively and started to throw punches, unaware of how loud they were and how they echoed around the room.

When Clint heard the sounds of fists hit the punching bag he dropped his load bow to his side and whirled around to face the sound.

"Nat? You alright?" He said, he voice laced in concern.

"What…?" She blinked and dropped her hands. She barely even started to punch the bag and he had already noticed her.

"Are you alright? Did something happen?" He asked again, this time more persistent.

"I'm fine." Her voice laced with a tinge of sadness as she dropped her eyes to the floor. She felt like she was going to lose it.

"You don't sound it," Clint walked over to Natasha while thinking for a brief moment, as if he knew what she had dreamed of. "Nightmare?"

Natasha nodded and closed her eyes that had started to swell from the reoccurring images that flashed in her head from her nightmare. "Yes…" She said quietly, her breath getting caught in her throat as she spoke.

He nodded, and understood what she was going through. This wasn't the first nightmare she had. Actually, Clint was with her most of the times she had her nightmares. He sighed and pulled Natasha into his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest and started to sink to the ground.

Natasha buried her face into his shoulder, weeping quietly into it while curling up in his arms. She was just letting go of all her feelings she bottled up and let Clint sooth her and try to help her cope.

How she wished this was Steve.

Though she didn't mind Clint doing this for her, it's not like she didn't have feelings for him and it's not like he hasn't done this for her before.

She looked up at Clint, taking her face from his shoulder, "I owe y—." She blinked as she was cut off, by Clint pressing his lips to hers in a soft but tender kiss with his arms still around her. Natasha was somewhat surprised, but kissed him back with not as much intensity as he had kissed her. Clint smiled against her lips, pulling away ever-so-slightly to where their lips just brushed against one another's.

"Better now?"

"Yes." She smiled for once that night, resting her head back on his chest.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a couple days since her run in with Clint in the gym. She was happy that only Clint was there to witness her mini-break down. It was nice to let her walls down for once, but now it was time to build them up again. For her to become normal enough for when Steve would comeback in one piece.

"Nat? I have news of Steve's return." Clint said which he was standing in the doorway of the den of the headquarters. He seemed to have been standing there for a while.

"He's back? When did he get back?" She jolted up from the couch she had been sitting on. She stretched out her legs and arms, she had been immobile too long and needed something to get her going again. "How is he? Where is he?"

"Infirmary." He said plainly, not enjoying out excited she seemed for Steve's return. He didn't know about anything between them, or their date. "Why are you so excited?"

"I…," She blinked, not really wanting to answer his question, but ended up answering it as simply as she could. "I just need to seem our teammate, okay? Nothing else."

"Fine…" He wasn't totally convinced by what she said, but he would let it slide this once.

Natasha smiled at him and started to walk pass him, about to go down the hall that he had been blocking with his body.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said, grinning at her before slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to kiss her softly on her soft voluptuous lips. He smiled against her lips then pulled away to look down at her small figure against his. "Now, you can leave. After her and Clint's kiss she was slightly flustered and didn't really know how to act. So she just decided to leave in silence, unsure if Clint would be happy about that or not.

Natasha entered the room in the medical wing where they were keeping Steve. She was worried about what she would see and if he was alright. She assumed he just was getting a bandage on his head like normal. But, to her surprise her suspicions were wrong.

Her eyes scanned over Steve, who was laying on the cot, shirtless. His right side was all wrapped up in gauze and tape, some blood from his wounds seeping through the gauze. He had a bandage on his right leg, above his knee. It looked like the medics had to cut off a part of his pants to get to the wound. He had small cuts that were all over his face and arms that the medics couldn't do much of anything about. He had bruises that covered his body, well the only visible parts of his body. It looked like he went through a wood chipper.

Natasha bit down on her plump lip, hard as she walked over to his cot and sat down near his arm. She wasn't sure if he was awake or not, but she wasn't going to leave until they would throw her out of the room. Which she doubted they would even be able to.

She reached over and grabbed Steve's hand, curling her fingers around his index finger and his thumb while giving it a gentle squeeze. She didn't expect him to react to her squeezing his hand, but he did by squeezing it gently back but with a groan. It seemed like the slightest of movement would hurt him.

"Steve?" She said in a soft tone.

"Natasha?" He groaned out her name, his chest falling slowly. It looked like he was in pain just by breathing.

"Shh…Don't speak. You'll only hurt yourself more." Natasha frowned. She didn't like seeing her teammates, her friends and people she had feelings for be hurt like this.

"But…Nat—." He tried to finished his sentence but Natasha placed her index finger on his lips and shook her head.

"Steve. It's okay, you're back. You just need rest." She nodded and let a small quiet sigh slip past her lips. Before Steve left to go on this mission he had promised Natasha he would come back to her, any means necessary. Did he actually have to do that from this mission? She flinched slightly at the thought and looked down at Steve who had his eyes on her in a somewhat loving way. She forced herself to smile at him when their eyes locked on each other's. They kept their gaze locked on each other for what seemed like hours, but was only minutes; until Steve broke the silence, even though he knew that Natasha might yell at him for speaking.

"Hey, Nat?" He said while shifting his body weight to sit up.

"Yes, Steven?" She said, curious to what he was going to ask her. She blinked when he shifted and went to help him up while moving closer to him.

"I just wanted to-." He placed his hand behind her head as quickly as he could, without having her object and pulled her close, pressing his lips to hers in a soft gentle kiss. This was out of character for him. He never usually kissed a pretty girl impulsively. But he was happy he did when he felt her lips move with his, in a gently rhythm, as she deepened their kiss.

They kissed for a couple minutes before both of them had to come up for air. Steve was somewhat out of breath, and held his side as he tried to slow down his breathing.

"Wow…" Was all Natasha could say before Steve pulled her to him and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Next time, don't let me go on these stupid missions by myself. Alright, Natasha?" He chuckled against her forehead.

All Natasha could do was nod, still slight overwhelmed by their kiss, more overwhelmed than she was with Clint's. What was she going to do now? She was stuck in a love triangle which she didn't want to be. She didn't want anyone compromised. But it seemed like it was too late. Natasha would wait to tell Steve and Clint about the kisses and tell them that she had to think of who she was going to pick, or she wasn't going to pick either of them.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a couple days since Steve's return to the headquarters and he was already, ready to start his training again. His wounds had been healing at an alarming rate, well for normal humans. His wounds usually healed faster, classifying him as a super soldier. He was glad that they were healing, so he was able to get back into the field and help his teammates, since he was the leader of the Avengers.

Natasha however had other plans in mind for Steve. She thought he needed more rest, to regain his strength and also so she could tell him about the romance sparking between them and Clint and her. She needed to explain this to him without him getting hurt. And god only knows that he would be the one getting hurt, well she'd hope that he would be and not her. She wouldn't know how to deal with that kind of hurt.

Natasha walked into the gym where the agents and others from S.H.I.E.L.D usually trained. She smiled, seeing that Steve hadn't noticed her walk in and was taping up his right hand in swift quick motions. She watched him briefly, watching his body movements then whistled to get his attention.

"Steven!" She called to him, not meaning to startle him.

Steve jumped and held his fists up; like his was going to attack and attacker then blinked only seeing that Natasha was in the room and smiled, waving for her to come over. Natasha smiled and walked over to him as he waved her over. Natasha never realized before, but Steve was handsome. He looked really nice in his gym shorts and tight t-shirt that he was wearing. He fell on him just right, and Natasha liked that.

"You scared the heck out of me, Natasha." Steve wasn't much of a person to swear. He rather and not curse in front of anyone.

"Sorry, Steven. I didn't mean to. But I have something else in mind for us to do today, since I am your trainer and all." She laughed quietly and motioned to his hands, telling him to take off the tape from his hands with her eyes.

Steven pouted, not wanting to take orders from Natasha but regardless, he listened to her and was being a gentleman. He then sighed, looking up at Natasha with a smile on his face.

"What is it, Nat?" He said, in a curious tone.

Natasha suddenly became nervous all over again. She was as nervous as she was on the night of their first date. She didn't know how to word what she was going to say, but there was no going back now.

She took a deep breath and blurred out, "Clint kissed me."

She looked up at Steve, her eyes unblinking as she studied his expression. At first it was soft and kind like it always had been, but then it turned rough and tight as he clenched his jaw. He balled his hands up into fists, and hid them behind his back. She could tell this infuriated him; he seemed to be possessive over Natasha.

"I'm going to go have a word with the Hawk." He grumbled, almost growling like he was already talking to Clint, and pushed past Natasha without even giving her a second glance and headed down the hallway towards Clint's room where he was minding his own business.

_Oh no. _She thought to herself while biting her lip. _What have I done. _


	5. Chapter 5

Steve was unbelievably pissed off by the news that Natasha had told him, even if Natasha didn't know it. He ripped off the tape on his hands that he used for the punching bag and threw it on the ground of the hallway as he walked. Natasha was his and not Clint's, regardless if he didn't ask her to be his yet. Steve stormed down the hallways to where Clint's room was, not even getting anyone a second look as he passed them. He normally would say hi or wave to a passing by agent, but his mind was on other things. He needed to make himself clear to Clint, no matter what it was going to take; he just didn't want to hurt Natasha's feelings in all of this. He cared deeply for her, even though they had been on one date and kissed a couple times. He still wanted her to be happy, and if it wasn't with him, he would let her go and be happy, regardless if his feelings would be killed and sent into another deep depression, like when he woke up and realized all of his friends were dead.

Once Steve reached Clint's door, he slammed his fists against to wooden door and the frame almost barking out orders at Clint from the outside, "Open this door, Barton! You have some explaining to do!" His slamming vibrated the door and the surrounding wood panels.

Clint's head shot up when he heard the banging on the door and grumbled, getting out of bed and went over to the door. Wondering what this could be about, because his kiss with Natasha, completely slipped his mind. He opened the door and scratched the top of his head, mumbling. "Hmm?" Almost seeming like he had just woken up.

"You kissed Natasha." Steve replied bitterly to Clint's 'hmm'.

"Yeah?" Clint blinked, rubbing his eyes. It seemed that Clint had just woken up from a nap and wasn't expecting to be disturbed by anyone at this hour, since his sleeping schedule was already messed up.

"Do you not see anything wrong—" Steve growled angrily and slammed his fists again, "With what you did?"

"No?" Clint quirked an eyebrow at Steve while he spoke.

"Maybe you should. Natasha is mine; she and I are almost a thing. More of a thing than you and her will ever be with her." Steve said with a bitter angry tone, wanting Clint to get worked up. Which was way out of character for him, he never went looking for a fight that was unnecessary.

"You and Nat? Ha-ha. Very funny, nice joke, Rogers." Clint said with a chuckle, getting a little irritated that Steve was still here talking to him. His eyes having a flicker of anger in them.

"We kissed and went on a date, Barton. Did you even notice that she seemed more distant to you?" Steve quirked an eyebrow and stepped closer to Clint, putting his foot in the doorway, just in case Clint tried to slam the door shut like a coward.

"Yeah, so?" Clint scoffed, knowing that it was more than what they had done recently, but he wasn't going to bring up Budapest with Steve; it would only make him more anger about the whole situation. He would just use that information at a later date.

"She is mine, back off." He hissed at Clint, balling his hands up into fists. Knowing that Clint was able to be fast enough to block his right-cross.

"She'll decided who she will allow to own her." Clint acted like Natasha was just a piece of merchandise and not a woman, even though he knew better than to say that about Natasha. He knew talking about her in such away would piss of Steve even more than he already was.

"She is a human being who deserves to be treating as such." He growled and closed his eyes, thinking to himself for a brief moment. _Should I do it? Should I punch him across the face? Would it hurt Natasha's feelings? Man, I really want to._

"I'll treat her like a woman." Clint winked, noticing that Steve had gone into deep thought, "What's the matter, Captain tight pants? Are you about to give up your chase for Nat's heart?"

_Damnit. That's it. I can't even take this anymore. _Steve thought to himself.

Steve rolled his shoulders in preparation to punch Clint across the face, ignoring his naming calling and comments.

"What's the matter? Teseratc got your tongue?" Clint snickered out his comment, almost doubling over in laughter.

Steve exhaled and fixed the positioning of his feet, swinging his arm up to fake Clint out on his left then going in for the right hook to his face; which took Clint by surprise, the impact of the blow made him stumble and fall backwards onto his ass.

"Bastard!" Clint growled at Steve, rubbing the side of his face.

"I think I have made my point clear, Natasha will end up being mine. I'll treat her like his deserves to be treated." Steve nodded firmly before turning on his heel to head back to his room to cool off and get a shower.

_Meanwhile…_

While all of this was going on, Natasha was behind one of the corners that was closest to Clint's room, listening in on their conversation. She made the right facial expressions at the right times and ended up smiling at the end, from what Steve had said. _This might work out…_

Natasha was happier than ever, regardless if her best friend had his face punched in byh the super-solider.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a couple days after his confrontation with Clint. He was still upset over the fact that Clint wouldn't keep his mouth shut. Clint didn't even know how to treat a lady like one. And that really bugged Steve. Even though Clint was an agent and could get any girl at S.H.I.E.L.D, he wanted to go after Natasha and would treat her horribly.

Steve sighed. He took out all of his anger on the punching bag in front of him. He swung with his right hand, hitting the bag with a soft hit before performing an upper cut with his left, his hand connecting with the bag. His body moved with his synchronized punching, his breathing somewhat quickened. His body flowed like a river. As his last punch connected with the punching bag, he sent it across the room, then bent over and rested his hands on his knees as he breathed slowly. He needed to calm himself down. The punching bag routine wasn't working out the way he planned.

_ As Steve finished up his punching on the punching bag, Natasha stepped into the room. She quietly watched him, waiting for him to finish up. She spoke up once the bag flew off the hook.

"I heard what you said." Natasha said quietly, not wanting to spook Steve, but she did anyways.

Steve jumped at the sound of her voice, tilting his head, "I'm not sure what you're talking about…" He replied, waiting to see what she heard.

"The thing you told Clint…" She simply stated.

"Y-You did?" Steve said, somewhat shocked to believe that she heard him say that. Also, he was embarrassed. He didn't want her to get upset by what he had said, when he truly meant every word of it.

"Yes, I did." Natasha said while crossing the room, over to him. Her hair waving as she walked. She looked happy, genuinely happy. It wasn't her normal fake happiness.

Steve just stood there, blinking while he watched her. He wasn't sure what to do with himself. But he knew that he wasn't going to move, even if she was coming over here to hit him.

Natasha stopped in front of him, tilting her head up to look up at him, "I thought it was sweet." She murmured, standing on her toes to get a better view.

"Y-You…Did…?" Steve stammered, turning a shade of bright red.

"Yes." Natasha said before pressing her lips to his in a soft kiss, placing her hands on his shoulders to help her stand on her toes while she kissed him.

Steve's complexion turned a brighter red before his arms went to wrap around Natasha's waist, returning her kiss as he nipped at her bottom lip. He held her close against him, feeling oddly comfortable with performing such acts.

Natasha pulled away slightly, their lips still touching. "Finally, someone who cares enough…" She said, pressing her lips back to his again.

This only made Steve smile wider, holding her closer to him as they continued to kiss, his thumbs massaging her waist gently. He didn't want to stop, and didn't want to be interrupted. He felt happy, like the happiness that he felt when him and Peggy first kissed.


End file.
